Baby Steps
by OneHotMess
Summary: A series of moments revolving around Eric, Calleigh, and their daughter Bella. Read and review. This one's going to be pretty lengthy.
1. Good morning sunshine

Disclaimer: I am getting paid for none of this, but I did create Bella. If you want to use her be my guest (:

A/N: I wanted to do a series revolving around Eric, Calleigh, and their daughter Isabella. My cousin Aubrey was helping me write this story (she's only four! She wasn't really helping me per se, just giving me ideas), and I asked her to pick a name for me and she choose Bella (That's her 6 month old maltipoo's name. haha) so I made it Isabella, Bella for short. Each story will be connected I guess, they're going to all be about random times I their lives. Bella's going to be about 2 ½ years old.

Sunlight entered the room through slats in the blinds, causing light to beam right in the face of Calleigh Delko. She groaned and placed her hand over her eyes, trying in vain to drift back to sleep. Then it dawned on her, today was her day off. She quickly sat up and stretched her arms to the ceiling, relishing in the feeling of being so carefree. She hadn't had a time off since Isabella was born, and that could hardly be counted as time off. She decided that today she was going to be lazy and not do anything. Out of habit she carefully slipped out of bed, and then realized that Eric was already at work. She smiled to herself at the thought of spending the day with her daughter, just the two of them. She made her way into the bathroom and splashed some cool water onto her face. After, she applied moisturizer to her skin because Florida sunshine was unforgiving to her fair skin. Once she was finished in the bathroom she padded her way down the hall to her daughter's room. When she had first found out that Calleigh was having a little girl, Chlorinda Delko had insisted on decorating the nursery for her. Calleigh had to admit the room looked spectacular. The furniture, which consisted of a crib, a changing table with a mirror, a rocking chair, and a small bookcase, were all painted the same shade of creamy white. The walls were painted a faint pink, while the sheets of the crib and the pad of the changing table were covered in pink cloth with white roses. Over the crib hung a sheer canopy, like the ones in the story books. Covering the walls were various pictures of Bella, and a few of the whole family. On the wall opposite the crib, wooden letters hung spelling out Isabella's name. Stuffed animals were placed around the room, and various picture books lined the shelves of the bookcase. When Calleigh had first saw the room she had sworn that it looked like a picture in a magazine. As she rounded the corner she heard that faint noise of a rainforest coming from the sound generator that Bella slept with, another gift from abuela. She pushed open the door and smiled when she spotted Bella standing in her crib grinning from ear to ear, her curly brown hair mused from sleeping on it. Calleigh had quickly learned that her daughter would not cry for her unless it was an absolute emergency, instead she opted on waiting until either mommy or daddy came to get her.

"Mommy!" She squealed, holding out her arms to Calleigh when she approached the crib. Calleigh smiled and picked her daughter up, and began to spin her around the room which caused Bella to erupt in a fit of giggles. It was a sound that could warm Calleigh's heart even after the worst of days. She never got tired of hearing the sound of her daughter's laughter.

"Good morning little girl," she said after they had stopped spinning, smoothing her daughter's hair in the process. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mhhmmm...," Bella replied, playing with her mom's hair. Then it dawned on her. "Whys yous not at work wit daddy?" She questioned a confused look on her face. Calleigh just laughed.

"Mommy has the day off. So that means I get to spend the whole day with you," she replied, poking Bella's stomach for emphasis causing her to giggle again. Bella was ecstatic. She usually didn't get to see her parents until very late in the after noon. One of them usually dropped her off at daycare, and then her abuela picked her up in the afternoon. She would stay at her house until one, or both, of her parents came to pick her up.

"Me's not going to daycare?" She asked. It wasn't that she didn't like daycare; no in fact she loved it, but she would much rather spend the day with her mommy.

"Nope," Calleigh replied smiling brightly. She then moved to change Bella's diaper and put a barrette in her hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes. When they were all done Calleigh carried Bella downstairs and deposited her on the couch. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"NEMO!" Bella squealed.

"Why did I even ask?" Calleigh replied, rolling her eyes in the process. Finding Nemo was Bella's latest obsession, last week it had been The Lion King. Who knew what it was going to be the next week. After putting the DVD into the player and powering up the TV, Calleigh made her way into the kitchen.

"Do you want some apple juice Bella?

"Yes"

"Yes what?"

"Yes pwease"

"Thank you," Calleigh congratulated her daughter. She and Eric had been desperately trying to teach Bella her manners; it seemed to be working though. Bella usually said please and she always said thank you. After grabbing a sippy cup out of the cupboard and pouring some apple juice into it, Calleigh made her way back into the room where her daughter's eyes were fixed on the sea creatures swimming across the TV.

"Here you go princess," Calleigh said with her arm outstretched to hand her daughter the sippy cup.

"Tank you mommy," Bella replied happily taking the cup from Calleigh hand. Once Calleigh sat down Bella immediately plopped herself down into her mother's lap.

"I love you Bella" Bella turned around to face her mom, green eyes locking with green eyes. She used her small hands to grab her mother's face.

"I wove you too mommy," she replied in all seriousness and dropped a kiss onto Calleigh's nose. Calleigh smiled and enveloped her daughter in a hug. After the movie was over and they had eaten their breakfast, Calleigh decided that they should make cookies.

"Wet's make choco chip cookies," Bella replied when her mother asked her what kind of cookies she wanted to make. Calleigh only laughed.

"Chocolate chip it is then." Bella carefully watched as her mother got the dough out of the refrigerator and began to make small balls out of it. "Can you do this Bella?"

"Yes," she replied happily grabbing a small handful of dough into her tiny hands. She began patting the sides of the dough and sat it down on the cookie sheet next to her mother's. "Like this mommy?"

"Very good princess," Calleigh replied, astonished at the nearly perfect balls of dough that her 2 year-old-daughter was able to produce. "I think that you're going to be a chef when you grow up!"

"A chef?" She questioned mispronouncing the word.

"Yep, someone who makes food"

"Oh, otay," She replied, going back to the task at hand. "Are wes makin cookies for daddy?"

"If you want"

"No! Dis cookies is for mommy and Bella, no daddy!" She replied, a frown appearing on her small face. Calleigh chuckled at her daughter's reaction.

"That's right Bella; these cookies are going to be just for you and me. Daddy can't have any." Calleigh smiled when her daughter looked up at her and gave her a lopsided grin that was almost an exact replica of her father's. They spent the afternoon making cookies, and when they were in the oven Calleigh watched the news, while Bella fell asleep in her lap. About an hour later, after Bella had woken up from her nap, the timer on the oven signaled that the cookies were done.

"Cookies!" Bella screamed running towards the kitchen.

"Bella don't run," Calleigh warned. Bella slowed down to a walk, but soon continued running once she was out of sight. Calleigh rolled her eyes. Where had she gotten this stubbornness from? It couldn't have been her. Must have been Eric.

When the cookies were out of the oven and cooling on the rack, Calleigh heard the door leading into the garage open.

"Bella, guess who's home?"

"DADDY!" She screamed, running towards the door.

"Princessa," The sound of Eric's voice carried into the kitchen. When he stepped into the kitchen Bella was hanging around his neck. "Hey," he greeted Calleigh, dropping a soft kiss on to her lips.

"Hey yourself," she replied once they had parted.

"Guess what daddy?"

"What honey?"

"Mommy and Bella made choco chip cookies!" She replied enthusiastically.

"Mmmm… cookies," Eric said reaching down for one.

"NO!" Bella squealed, slapping his hand away from the plate. "Dis cookies is fors me and mommy," she stated happily. Eric looked over at Calleigh who only grinned at him.

"Hey I didn't make the rules here mister, she did," she stated pointed to Bella who stuck her tongue out at him. He set her down on the floor and she quickly took of towards the living room where all of her toys were. Once she was gone Eric pulled Calleigh close to him.

"So, how was your day off?" Calleigh smiled, and looked over to the living room were Bella was trying to stack blocks.

"It was wonderful." After a quick peck on the lips Calleigh and Eric made their way back to the living room.

"Hey Bella, I think you should give your daddy a cookie," Calleigh whispered into her ear.

"Otay," she replied excitedly as she raced towards the kitchen. She reentered holding a cookie in her small hands. " 'ear you goes daddy," she said placing the cookie into his outstretched hand.

"Thanks, princessa."

Calleigh smiled at the scene playing out before her eyes. Here she was sitting in her living room with her husband and their daughter. Nothing could be more perfect than this.

Today had definitely been a good day off

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Hope you liked it. Read and Review, there's a lot more to come (: I'll update as soon as possible. Oh, and please remember Bella's only two, she's not going to have perfect English.

References:

Bella's room: It's an exact description of my cousin Lucia's room. It's kinda hard to describe, but it is gorgous. When I first saw it I was like "OMG, I WANT HER ROOM!" haha

Bella's obsession with Nemo: My cousin Jacklyn is OBSESSED with finding nemo. When I went to the beach with her for a week all she wanted to do was watch Finding Nemo. haha. So her dad was trying to get her to watch the lion king instead. That was a fun weekend, babysitting 5 of my little cousins all under the age of 5. Fun right?


	2. Let's take a vacation

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize. Isabella is mine though, use her if you want (:

A/N: Well it is a very ugly day here in the sunshine state (Florida) so what better way to spend it then by writing some fanfics. Haha. Well my hard drive on my laptop crashed erasing all of my CSI Miami episodes, so I went out and bought seasons 1-6 on DVD. If my dad finds out that my mom bought them for me he's going to be pissed. Haha. Oh well (:

"Let's take a vacation," Eric said suddenly walking into the master bedroom of the Delko household. Calleigh, who had been in bed surfing the web, peered over the edge of her laptop to give her husband a strange look.

"What?"

"Come on Cal, we have a four day weekend. Let's go do something," he replied excitedly. It was true; Horatio had graciously allotted them some time off to spend with their daughter, Isabella. It was Thursday evening, and they had both Friday and Monday off from work.

"Where's Bella?" Calleigh questioned, clearly ignoring the subject.

"I already put her to sleep. Anyway," he replied quickly getting back on topic. "I was thinking you, me, and Bella should take a road trip," he said grinning in the process. He deposited himself next to his wife, who rolled her eyes at his childish pleading.

"What did you have in mind?" She asked, finally giving in a little.

"I think we should go to Busch Gardens," he replied smiling from ear to ear.

"Busch Gardens? As in Tampa?" She replied, shocked at his proposal.

"No, Busch Gardens in Williamsburg," he replied sarcastically. "Yeah, in Tampa I really want to go on Sheikra I heard they took the floor out and everything!" He said excitedly

"Oh," Calleigh replied smirking. "I get it; this is about you not all of us." He rolled his eyes at her.

"Oh, come on Cal. There's a whole bunch of stuff that we could do in Tampa."

"Like what?"

"Well we could take Bella to the Aquarium because you know how she likes her fishes," he said smiling, referring to her obsession to the movie Finding Nemo.

"Hey mister, what about me," Calleigh questioned pretending to be hurt.

"I could never forget about you my love," he replied while depositing a quick peck on her lips. She blushed and turned her head. "We could always do a little shopping," he said raising his eyebrows because he knew of his wife's weakness for shopping. Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. "Maybe we could go to International Plaza while we're up there, you know that is if you want to go," he said nonchalantly. Without even giving him a response she quickly got off the bed, and began to pull clothes from her closet.

"Check the weather," she called out to him from inside her closet. Eric began to chuckle and silently obeyed. "When you're done with that go pack some clothes for Bella," she said after a minute. He looked up from what he was doing as his eyes grew large. He had no idea what kind of things he needed to pack for a 2 year old.

"Don't you think that you could do that Cal?" He questioned, silently hoping that she would.

"I think you can handle it," she replied, clearly telling him he had no choice. After purchasing the tickets for both Busch Gardens and the Aquarium, he turned off the computer and silently walked down the hall to his daughter's room. When he opened the door he expected her to be asleep, but she was still up nursing the bottle of warm milk that he had given her 10 minutes before.

"Daddy!" She greeted, quickly abandoning the sippy cup to stand in her crib with her arms outstretched.

"No, princessa. Daddy just needs to get you some clothes because you, me, and mommy are going on a trip," he told his daughter excitedly. He still couldn't believe that Calleigh had given in so easily

"A twip?" She asked curiously. Mommy and Daddy had never taken her on a trip before, and she was curious to know what it was.

"Mhhm," he replied, moving to her closet to extract her pink suitcase from the top shelf. "We're going to go ride some roller coasters and see some fishes!" He told her, almost excited as a young kid on Christmas Eve.

"Nemo?" She questioned.

"That's right," he praised, moving to her chest of drawers to begin packing her things. She squealed happily at the thought of going to go see real live fishes like the ones she saw in the movie. She watched as her daddy finished packing her clothes and other necessities that she would need. He finished zipping up her suitcase, and deposited it on her rocking chair.

"Get a good night's sleep little girl we have a big day ahead of us," he instructed Bella.

"Otay daddy." She replied animatedly, laying down and pulling her fuzzy pink blanket over her small body. Eric walked over to her crib and leaned his face down to give her a kiss on the check.

"Night Bella, I love you," he whispered into her ear.

"I wove you too daddy," she replied turning over on her side, a trait she had inherited from her mother. He turned off her lights and silently closed the door. He walked back into his own room where Calleigh was triumphantly standing over two large suitcases.

"Aww honey, you packed for me," he commented placing his hand over his heart for affect. Calleigh looked up at him, and gave him a strange look.

"Packed for you nothing, this is all my stuff," she replied in all seriousness. He stood there mouth agape. How could she possibly need that much stuff for four days? Then she let out a loud laugh. "Of course I packed for you; do you really think that I could bring this much for only four days?" He let out a small chuckle and crossed the room to envelop her into a hug. She leaned into his chest and breathed in his sent. She absolutely loved the way that he smelled. It was like nothing she could describe. He stroked her silky hair that fell down her back. He had always loved her hair, and when ever he saw her he had to resist the urge to run his fingers through it. She sighed and he lifted her chin so that he could plant a kiss on her lips. She reached up hungrily to wrap her arms around his neck in hopes of pulling him closer to her. He pushed her to the side of the bed, forcing her to sit down. He then began to start a trail of slow sensual kisses along her neck. She moaned and he began to nip the places where his kisses had just lavished. She put her hands out behind her for support, and leaned her head back to grant him better access. He began to grow impatient, and began to gently lean her back onto the bed. He remembered, too late, that there were two large suitcases currently occupying the space. As he leaned her back her head hit the corner of one, and she sat up abruptly. He was genuinely concerned and began to apologize. He was cut off, however, by Calleigh's laughter.

"I think that's enough excitement for one night," she said, still giggling and rubbing her head. "Help me get these suitcases off the bed will ya?" He happily obliged, and soon he was under the covers holding his wife firmly to his chest.

"Are you excited?" He questioned

"As long as I get to spend time with the people I love, I'm ecstatic," she replied sleepily trying to conceal a yawn.

"Get some sleep we have a long day tomorrow." His only response was his wife's even breathing signaling that she was already in dream land. "Sweet dreams my love," he whispered before falling asleep himself.

A/N: Well this was kind of a filler chapter I guess. There'll be another chapter with the trip to Tampa. I personally love International Plaza, so I figured Calleigh would too (: When my cousin Jacklyn was down here we had to take her to the aquarium because of her obsession with Nemo. Also Sheikra is not what it's cracked up to be. Personally I like Montu better, but that's just me. During the summer I practically live at Busch Gardens. Haha (:


	3. A new addition to the family

A/N: I decided that I didn't want to continue the whole Tampa thing. When you live in Tampa, you don't really know how to write about it from the view point of a tourist, so to speak. Either that or I'm just lazy. Haha (:

On one of the rare occasions that he was not working, Eric Delko loved spending the day with his two year old daughter. Today was one of those rare occasions actually, and he was looking forward to getting Bella out of the house. He couldn't believe his luck when Horatio had offered him some time off. He said it was the least he could do since Eric had spent the last week up to his neck in toxic sewage fishing out the numerous floaters that surfaced. Calleigh had left that morning grumbling under her breath about how it was so not fair that he got a day off when _she_ did a lot more work than he did. That just made him even happier to know that his wife was jealous of him. After giving Calleigh a quick kiss good-bye he rushed up the stairs to Bella's still closed door. He somewhat silently opened her door, mentally noting to fix the squeaky hinges, and stepped into Bella's room that often reminded him of a cave. Peering in to the crib he was greeted by two piercing emerald eyes. Bella giggled and pulled her pink velour blanket over her head. Eric smiled.

"Oh no! I've lost Bella, what's mommy going to do with me?" He questioned, pretending to be scared. At that moment he realized that three years ago no one would have ever pictured Eric Delko, _The Eric Delko, _to be playing peek-a-boo with a toddler.

"Boo!" Bella yelled, while Eric took a step back and placed a hand over his mouth for emphasis. "Did I scares yous daddy?" She questioned, with a pleased look on her face.

"Princessa, you almost gave daddy a heart attack!" He exclaimed his eyes wide. Bella stood up giggling, and placed her arms out in the process. Eric loved her laugh. He never got tired of it even though it seemed that she laughed all the time. It was just so refreshing to hear, and it always made him feel happy inside. He picked her up and walked across the room to pull the black-out shade that was keeping her room dark up. Florida sunshine was horrible for trying to catch those last few minutes of sleep. After changing her and brushing her hair, he took her downstairs to put some food in her stomach.

After eating he decided that today was a perfect day to get his surprise. He brought Bella upstairs and deposited her on her rocking chair.

"Wheres we's going daddy?" Eric rolled his eyes. She was just like her mom; she always had to know everything.

"Out"

"Out where?"

"It's a surprise"

"No supwise, daddy!" She exclaimed exasperated. She did not like not knowing what was going on. Eric just smiled at her. He pulled out some clothes from her closet and quickly dressed her. He stood back to admire his handy work. Not too shabby. Apparently living with someone so fashion forward as Calleigh, had given him the skills needed to appropriately dress his daughter. Her outfit consisted of a light pink shirt, blue jeans tucked into her mini Ugg boots, and a light brown sweater that matched the color of her boots. For a final touch he added a light pink bow to her curly brown locks. Normally he would have just let her wear a t-shirt and shorts (much to Calleigh's disapproval), but it was that one week in Florida that the temperature got below 75. After finishing Bella, he turned out the lights and headed towards the master bedroom. He put Bella on the bed and turned the TV on to Playhouse Disney. Once again, who would have thought that Eric Delko would know the channels for Playhouse Disney? He headed toward his closet and threw on some blue jeans and an old UM sweatshirt. After making sure that all the appliances in the house were turned off he made his way out to the garage. When they had Bella, his car all of the sudden became the "family car". He supposed it was because Calleigh's Crossfire could only fit two people. So with that _his _SUV became the official child chauffeur. He opened the door and put Bella into her car seat. After buckling her up he powered up her portable DVD player. God forbid she be without her Nemo for five seconds. After getting in himself he pulled out off the driveway and closed the garage door behind him. After about a million questions from Bella about their destination he finally pulled into a parking lot for a pet store. Bella, seeing all the animals in the window, knew immediately where they were. Eric smiled, he had always wanted a dog when he was a child, but Marisol had been allergic. That didn't mean that Bella couldn't have one. Sure Calleigh was probably going to kill him for not talking about it with her first, but he could think of some ways to make it up to her.

He got out of the car, and went around the back to get Bella out. Once she was free from her buckle, she nearly jumped into Eric's arms.

"Daddy! Me's wants a puppy," she exclaimed, almost yelling into his ear.

"Well, I think I can do something about that," he replied, giving her his lopsided smile which she replicated.

Once they were inside the store Bella squirmed in his arms to get down. They surveyed the walls of small puppies that were each begging for their attention. Eric knew exactly what he wanted. A manly dog, something that would follow him around the house or get the mail for him when he wanted. He looked at the small golden retrievers and weimaraners, thinking that either breed would make an excellent companion. Bella obviously had different ideas.

"Daddy I wants him," she exclaimed pointing to a cage.

"Are you sure Bella?" he questioned, hoping that he could change her mind.

"Pwease," she pleaded, giving him her best puppy dog look. Eric had to give in. He found someone who worked in the store and told him that they wanted to buy the dog. An hour later, Eric, Bella, and the new addition to the family were on their way back to the house. Eric had bought everything he thought a puppy would need, and some things it might not. He looked into the review mirror. How had he let her talk him into this?

Calleigh arrived home later that night, greeted by the laughter of her daughter and husband, and the shrill barking of a dog. Wait, they didn't have a dog. She rounded the corner and spotted her husband and daughter rolling around the floor with what looked liked a tiny ball of fluff. With the sound of her high heels all three turned around.

"Mommy!" Bella screamed, running towards her picking up the small dog in the process. "Look what daddy got fors me!" she said. Calleigh looked down at her daughter. In her small hands was a small dog that looked like it couldn't have been more than a couple moths old.

"Oh my god Eric," she exclaimed. "You got her a dog?"

"Umm yeah…" he replied looking to the floor. He should have known this would be bad. However, he wasn't expecting what came next.

"Oh my god, he's so cute! What kind of dog is he?" She squealed picking him up from Bella, and cradling him to her chest.

"Him's a molly-poo mommy!" Bella said, looking up proudly at her mom.

"Aww…a malti-poo! Eric I've always wanted one of these!" Eric couldn't believe his luck, she wasn't mad at all. "Personally though, I thought you would have gone for something a little manlier," she stated smirking at him. He acted offended.

"Hey, it's not my fault _your _daughter gave me the puppy dog eyes," he explained. Calleigh just laughed at him. She gave the dog back to Bella, who cradled him like a baby.

"What'd you name him Bella?"

"Crush," she said pointing to the small circular dog tag hanging off of his small sparkly blue collar.

"Of, course," Calleigh said rolling her eyes. Leave it to her daughter to name her dog after a turtle in a movie. "We'll let's go feed him them." Bella ran into the kitchen were the dog supplies were still sitting on the kitchen table. As Calleigh walked past Eric she leaned up and pressed a kiss onto his lips.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear.

"For what?"

"For just being you," she said. With that she turned around and walked toward the kitchen where Bella was trying to walk Crush on a leash.

A/N: Well that was adequate, hopefully. Did the title make you think that it was going to be about something else? Haha. Read and Review (: I love waking up at 5:30 to some good reviews, it starts my day off right.

B.T.W- Crush is the turtle in Finding Nemo. Believe I've seen that movie more times than can possibly be good for my health.

Oh and: I just thought it would be funny for Eric to have to drive Bella around in his car. My dad is like that. We have our small little Mercedes sports car, and then the ginormous Sequoia. Seriously, can he just get something in the middle? (: haha.


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